He was speaking as voters prepared to go to the polls in an election that pits the two coalition partners against each other, as the Tories were warned that slipping behind UKIP would lead to a "crisis".

On Wednesday evening, Labrokes said the Lib Dems were 1/3 favourites, with the Tories at 4/1, UKIP 6/1 and Labour 100/1 outsiders.

The Lib Dems know they have to hang onto one of their flagship seats, which is up for grabs after the resignation of disgraced former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne.

But they have had to battle potentially damaging allegations about the party's response to sexual harassment complaints against its former chief executive, Lord Rennard.

On Wednesday night it was reported that one of the women had offered to make a complaint against the peer - who denies the allegations - contradicting the official version of events.

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Embarking on last-ditch campaigning on Wednesday night, Clegg was forced to deny that the admission that concerns about Lord Rennard's conduct had been a "background" issue at the time of his resignation amounted to another shift in his position.

"I don't think it is actually an elaboration on what I have been saying for days now, which is that there were general concerns back in 2008 and into 2009, and Lord Rennard stood down in the spring of 2009," he said.

With a stronghold on the local council, this is likely to favour the Lib Dems.

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But Brione also said Nigel Farage's UKIP were "within touching distance of second place" and added: "The possibility that they could pull off a surprise outside victory, as George Galloway did in Bradford West a year ago, should not be entirely discounted."